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Judge dismisses rape case against father
Worcester (MA) Telegram and Gazette ^ | 8/18/04 | Nugent

Posted on 08/18/2004 12:25:35 PM PDT by pabianice

CLINTON, MA- The case against a father accused of raping his 2-year-old daughter has been dismissed because the mother, charged with slashing the baby's wrist, refused to testify against her husband.

The charges against Ashok K. Yadlapalli, 35, of Oxford Court were dismissed June 29 by Judge Martha A. Brennan in Clinton District Court.

A motion to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning the plaintiff can bring the same charges forward again, was made by the prosecutor, Anthony J. Marotta, a Worcester County assistant district attorney.

In the motion, Mr. Marotta said all rape kit results from the child were negative, and there is no other independent evidence. Police said it is unclear if the alleged rape took place on the night Mr. Yadlapalli was arrested.

Also, the motion says the child would not likely be able to testify because of her age and limited verbal abilities.

As for the mother, Srilatha Meka, 30, who called police to report the rape on April 5, the motion says she, "does not wish to speak with this undersigned prosecutor (Mr. Marotta) and she will not cooperate with prosecution."

Mr. Marotta said the case against Mr. Yadlapalli, a software engineer, cannot proceed without Ms. Meka's cooperation and testimony.

Meanwhile, Ms. Meka is awaiting trial for attempted murder and other charges for allegedly slashing the baby's right wrist after reporting the rape. Ms. Meka also cut her own wrists after calling police about her husband.

Both mother and child were taken to a Worcester hospital, where they recovered from the injuries.

In May, Ms. Meka was ordered to undergo two psychological evaluations.

A spokeswoman for District Attorney John J. Conte said Ms. Meka was indicted by a Worcester Superior Court grand jury in June, and is scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 25. She is being held at Taunton State Hospital.

She is charged with assault with intent to murder, assault and battery upon a child, causing bodily injury, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (a knife).

Police have said cultural factors could have had a role in Ms. Meka's alleged attempted murder-suicide. In the couple's native India, they said, rape and child abuse victims are often treated as outcasts.

Ms. Meka called the dispatch center in the early evening of April 5, and reported a domestic problem, alluding to the alleged sexual assault of her daughter. Mr. Yadlapalli was subsequently arrested and taken to the police lockup.

A few hours later, the dispatcher received a call from a man identifying himself as Ms. Meka's brother, frantically asking police to check on his sister and the child, in case Ms. Meka tried to hurt herself or her daughter because of a perceived social stigma.

When police arrived the second time, they found Ms. Meka and the child bleeding profusely. The child had a deep cut on its wrist.

Ms. Meka had attempted to go back to India a few days before the rape was reported, but had a visa problem at the airport, police said.


TOPICS: Local News
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To: justshutupandtakeit
I do read the Bible, Shut UP.

I believe that most of the filth that has inundated our nation is manufactured by leftists. They are abetted by the leftists that populate our congresses: federal and state.

41 posted on 08/19/2004 1:28:10 PM PDT by JesseHousman (Execute Mumia Abu-Jamal)
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To: Little Ray
I was talking about the way illegals are not deported and simply walk away from most punshiments or arrests.

Both parents are up on multiple abuse charges.

42 posted on 08/19/2004 1:36:16 PM PDT by cinFLA
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To: houeto
...and you want to EXECUTE?!

A pre-emptive strike...just in case he is guilty.

43 posted on 08/19/2004 1:39:25 PM PDT by Onelifetogive
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To: JesseHousman

Apparently you didn't pay much attention to it or to the thousands of years of history before the present era. Since leftist political philosophy can only be said to have emerged within the last 200 yrs or so how do you explain such erupts of evil which occurred prior to that?

Trying to blame leftists for Original Sin undermines the claim of the Right to be rational.


44 posted on 08/19/2004 1:59:55 PM PDT by justshutupandtakeit (My Father was 10x the hero John Fraud Kerry is.)
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To: cinFLA
"...but the article does not support your claims."

See posts 20/23

45 posted on 08/19/2004 2:08:59 PM PDT by Bonaparte
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To: justshutupandtakeit
"...was the absence of physical trauma which would have been obvious even had no ejaculation occurred."

Absence? In cases of suspected child rape, a physical examination of the genitalia is SOP. The articles mentioned only that rape kit evidence was negative. They said nothing about an "absence" of gross tissue damage. From what's presented in the articles, we can only say that we don't know, not that such signs were absent.

46 posted on 08/19/2004 2:12:28 PM PDT by Bonaparte
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To: cinFLA
"I would bet..."

Keep your wager modest, because you would lose. I'm on the side of truth, case by case and wherever it leads.

47 posted on 08/19/2004 2:15:10 PM PDT by Bonaparte
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To: Bonaparte

Had there been trauma it would have been noted. The fact that nothing was mentioned is a strong clue that this did not happen as claimed.


48 posted on 08/19/2004 2:15:46 PM PDT by justshutupandtakeit (My Father was 10x the hero John Fraud Kerry is.)
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To: cinFLA
"Both parents are up on multiple abuse charges."

See title of article...

    Judge dismisses rape case against father

49 posted on 08/19/2004 2:18:05 PM PDT by Bonaparte
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To: justshutupandtakeit
"... it would have been noted."

We're making progress. You started by claiming genital trauma was absent. Now you say there is only a "strong clue" that it was absent because the reporter did not mention it. I take it from this that you are willing to conceed it may or may not have been found on physical examination.

50 posted on 08/19/2004 2:22:22 PM PDT by Bonaparte
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To: TKDietz
"And I can tell you from experience handling a wide variety of criminal cases that while most people arrested are guilty of something, sexual abuse cases involving children are more likely than many other types of cases to turn out to be bogus."

Oh come on! We know children and mothers don't lie! We know no prosecutor would heap bogus charges on an innocent man just to reap political benefit. And that could NEVER happen in Massachusetts!

Thank You,
Gerald Amirault
51 posted on 08/19/2004 2:32:20 PM PDT by PaleoPal
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To: Little Ray
"Sounds like we have one set of laws for Americans and second, more lenient set for illegal immigrants."

I wouldn't say that. It's true that INS isn't deporting these people like they should, but in my experience here in my part of the south Mexicans generally get hit harder than whites on average when it comes to plea bargains and jury sentences. All things being equal I'd much rather be a reasonably clean cut middle class white local kid going through the system here than a clean cut looking Mexican, and the illegals generally do get hit harder than those here legally. I'm in a real law and order area. It's mostly white except for a growing population of Mexicans working at the chicken plants, and our juries tend to be all white and made up of mostly silver haired southern style conservatives from the Baptist, Assembly of God, Church of Christ, or Pentecostal faiths. Jurors here are much more apt to buy an "I killed him because he needed killin'" defense than be understanding toward minorities or drug addicts. There isn't much to do around here and generally about half of the tiny newspaper that comes out is made up of articles about local investigations, arrests, pleas, trials, and so on. We have several times as many law enforcement officers per capita than most places it seems. The whole law and order thing is big entertainment around here.
52 posted on 08/19/2004 2:58:18 PM PDT by TKDietz
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To: Bonaparte

First of all, I never claimed trauma was absent. The fact that it was not mentioned, given the raving lunatic feminism which dominates Mass., means almost certainly that it was absent. That fact would be discernible far quicker than any bio/chem tests.

There is no reason for me to "concede" anything since I don't have a dog in this fight.


53 posted on 08/19/2004 8:21:53 PM PDT by justshutupandtakeit (My Father was 10x the hero John Fraud Kerry is.)
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To: justshutupandtakeit
"First of all, I never claimed trauma was absent."

    justshutupandtakeit [post 35]: "Further indication that this was no rape was the absence of physical trauma which would have been obvious even had no ejaculation occurred."

    (emphasis mine)

You said it before you didn't say it? ;-)

54 posted on 08/19/2004 10:51:20 PM PDT by Bonaparte
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To: Onelifetogive
A pre-emptive strike...just in case he is guilty.

LMAO!!

55 posted on 08/20/2004 4:44:49 AM PDT by houeto
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